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32325 Most Valuable Events in College Swimminghttps://swimpractice.com/college-swimming/5-most-valuable-events-college-swimming/
https://swimpractice.com/college-swimming/5-most-valuable-events-college-swimming/#respondTue, 04 Dec 2018 15:28:17 +0000http://swimpractice.com/?p=2181Last summer we wrote quite a bit about the 50’s of stroke. Thanks to a debate on everyone’s favorite FB page for swim coaches, I’m inspired to continue the fight for the 50’s of stroke by diving a little deeper into college swimming and our swimnerd scoring system. If you’d like to brush up on […]

]]>Last summer we wrote quite a bit about the 50’s of stroke. Thanks to a debate on everyone’s favorite FB page for swim coaches, I’m inspired to continue the fight for the 50’s of stroke by diving a little deeper into college swimming and our swimnerd scoring system.

If you’d like to brush up on the topic of the 50’s of stroke, here are the previous posts in chronological order. Honestly, I forgot how fun these were to write. Inside the first article you’ll find a testy exchange between Rowdy Gaines, David Plummer, and Tony Ervin about the 50 Free — don’t miss that.

College swimming scholarships (should) love sprinters. If you are a college coach giving all your scholarship dollars away to distance swimmers you might want to stop doing that (if your goal is to score the most points and win your conference).

The 5 most valuable events in college swimming are:

50 Free100 Free
100 Fly100 Back100 Breast

According to our swimnerd scoring system, these five events are worth 40 points (20 individual + 20 relay). Currently we are using the 100’s of stroke to also account for the 4×50 Medley Relay points. Obviously the more accurate way to divvy out the relay points is to have the 50’s of stroke only correspond for the 200 MR and the 100’s of stroke only for the 400 MR — the exact same way you score the 50 and 100 Free. The 50’s of stroke would be worth 10 relay points and the 100’s of stroke would drop to 30 points. We’d do that if the data was available but it isn’t yet. But, I digress.

Current Swimnerd Scoring System:

Note: the D2 table looks slightly different thanks to the 1000 Free being a conference event. This certainly helps distance stars collect some more points.

The bottom line is that the 50’s of stroke aren’t individual events in college swimming. The sport of swimming continues to neglect a specific type of athlete: the one’s that swim the fastest. How stupid and absurd it is to say that, right?

For grins and giggles let’s just check out the current NCAA Top 8 in the 50 and 100 Free for both Men and Women across all 3 Divisions. I wanted to see how many swimmers ranked in the 50 were also ranked in the 100. I think you’ll find the same if you matched up everyone’s 50’s of strokes vs. 100’s of strokes.

Division I62.5% of women25% of men

Division II62.5% for women37.5% for men

Division III50.0% for women50.0% for men

I imagine if sports gambling is legalized, the 50’s would be a big hit with the bookies.

In the second episode of, “The Swimnerd Show: Swimming History”, we speak with Bill Ripol, childhood friend and QDD teammate of Jeff Rouse. A former ACC Champion in the 400 IM, Bill swam for Mark Bernadino at the University of Virginia from 1986 through 1990.

Swim Sam and I got to speak to Bill about several things including…

…the worst practice(s) of his life.…being a parent of a swimmer.…some advice on properly choosing the right college for you.…the excitement that Todd Desorbo & Co. have brought back to the University of Virginia.

But we mainly talk about Jeff Rouse.

QDD threw a little good luck party for Bill & Jeff before they left for Olympic Trials in 1988.

We talk about…

…the first time he met Jeff. (Of course, it was at swim practice.)…how at QDD there was a great group of guys (spanning several years apart) that really pushed each other. The work ethic was passed down from the older kids to the younger kids.…another story of genuine humility that really seems to be the ethos of Jeff Rouse.…sitting on the bulkhead at 1990 NCAA Championships with Jeff (Stanford) and Mark Lenzi (Indiana) — 3 guys that grew up swimming for Quantico together. Jeff won the 100 Back that year in 47.50 while Mark won the 1 meter with a score of 599.00.

Bill was extremely humble — something that Don Regenbogen also exuded. Themes of friendship and team run heavy throughout the interview.

Favorite Quote

“For me, I found that if I worked hard I went fast and I liked going fast and I liked winning.” – Bill Ripol

Remembering Mark Lenzi

Mark Lenzi passed away suddenly in April 2012 at just 43 years old. He won Gold at the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona (3 meter) and Bronze (3 meter) at the 1996 Games in Atlanta. He didn’t begin diving until he was 16 years old!

The mural was designed and created through a partnership with Stafford County Public Schools led by Stafford High School fine arts teacher Linda Arney and a group of students. Jeff (Class of 1988) and Mark (Class of 1986) are both graduates of Stafford High School.

]]>https://swimpractice.com/the-swimnerd-show/swimming-history-bill-ripol/feed/0Reflections on Treading Water for 12 Hourshttps://swimpractice.com/water-safety/reflections-on-treading-water-for-12-hours/
https://swimpractice.com/water-safety/reflections-on-treading-water-for-12-hours/#respondWed, 26 Sep 2018 16:12:12 +0000http://swimpractice.com/?p=2059On Friday, September 21st, I treaded water for 12 straight hours in the Chesapeake Bay, beating my personal best by 2 hours. A BIG thank you to all the supporters of my Tread-A-Thon! I entered at 7 AM and exited at 7 PM. This year I invited special guests to come join me throughout the […]

]]>On Friday, September 21st, I treaded water for 12 straight hours in the Chesapeake Bay, beating my personal best by 2 hours. A BIG thank you to all the supporters of my Tread-A-Thon!

I entered at 7 AM and exited at 7 PM. This year I invited special guests to come join me throughout the day, which had a significant impact on my morale and made time fly by!

My Dad took the early shift — I can always count on him — especially early in the morning. Before I could drive, he’d wake up at 03:45 AM to get me to swim practice, as it started at 4:40 AM and we had a 30 minute drive. He’d sleep in the van on a throw pillow until practice was over and then drive me back. A graduate of the United States Coast Guard Academy (’76) he knows a thing or two about boats and water safety. Unfortunately, I for some reason forgot to interview him while LIVE on Facebook. But, we talked about the difficulties of search and rescue missions — looking for someone’s head in a giant body of water — or trying to calculate the drift by capturing data points from helicopters flying over. He also mentioned that, “In the Gulf of Mexico we looked for survivors. But in Lake Michigan…cold water kills.”

The second VIP to hop in and tread with me was the one and only Leslie Paul, the founder of the non-profit organization RAPS (Really Awesome People Swimming). Since 2007, Leslie and her staff has taught over 2,600+ people in Virginia Beach how to swim, the majority of them being kids. A part of all donations to my tread are going to help fund next summer’s program!

Just after high noon, Coach Kristian Ramkvist brought his entire team of military and civilian personnel. This program helps prepare our current and future service men and women in the water. If you want to join the Navy but need to strengthen your swimming skills, this program was built for you.

Throughout the day I thought a lot about Kay Longstaff, the 46-year-old British woman who just recently fell off the back of a cruise ship and treaded water for 10 hours until she was rescued. I had ample water, a ham sandwich from Wawa, and plenty of snacks. She had no food or water. I had sunglasses and a hat. She had neither. I have tens of thousands of hours of hardcore swimming under my belt. She’s a yogi and can carry a nice tune.

I thought to myself, “You don’t have to be a former college swimmer to tread 10 or 12 hours. You just need to know how to float, tread, and keep calm.” I reminisced about teaching children to float on their backs in the Maldives. We would say, “Vaagi Dhookollaa” which in Dhivehi means, “relax”.

Family and friends joined me for the last hour, counting down the minutes. The first 11 hours and 50 minutes were a breeze but the final 10 minutes dragged on slow as molasses. Time is a funny thing…

After it was all said and done, the sides of my tongue were raw from swigging saltwater. Impossible to escape the sun and the reflection off the water, my face was torched, my lips blistered. My joints (ankles/knees/wrists) hurt from overuse. Too many egg beater kicks. Too much sculling with my hands. Too much flicking of my feet.

So why tread water for 12 hours?

To bring awareness to the fact that drowning is killing a ridiculous number of people every year and over half of them are children. From large community surveys we know that some 250,000 – 450,000childrendrown each year in Asia Pacific alone. Drowning has become the #1 killer of children in numerous countries. Drowning is the reason why developing countries could not “Reduce Child Mortality” — #4 on the United Nations’ Millennium Development Goals.

The World Health Organization (WHO) just published it’s first ever Report on Drowning in 2014. But we’ve been drowning since the beginning of time. To say that we are far behind in this fight is an understatement.

Nothing will stop be from continuing to sound the alarm on drowning. Next year I will go for 14 hours. How long can you tread?

“No matter how much we as parents might want to protect our kids, we can’t actually swim for them. Both metaphorically and actually, when we teach a people to swim, we give them the chance to handle risks and make their way through hazards without someone more experienced shielding them at every turn. They are the ones who get to withstand the currents and unanticipated shoals that may alter their path. Learning to swim involves not just knowing how to float, how to breathe, how to stroke, how to tread water — but also understanding when each is called for.” – Rabbi Patricia Karlin-Neumann

The first thing that came to my mind before reaching out to Coach Don Regenbogen was, “How the heck do I pronounce his last name?” It made me think of Henry Rowengartner.

It is pronounced ‘Reagan’ — like Ronald Reagan. Reagan-Bogen. Regenbogen.

Coach Don Regenbogen (currently with OCCS) was lured down from Pittsburgh in the 1980’s by Doug Fonder (who founded QDD). There he met a young age group swimmer named Jeff Rouse.

Coach Don and I got to talk about a lot of things including Sudley’s remarkable 94 meet summer league winning streak. How college swimming has helped sprinters but hurt distance swimmers in America. And, the plethora of QDD swimmers (7) that went on to represent the USA in the Olympics in several different sports.

But mainly we talked about Jeff Rouse.

We touch on…

…how Bill Ripol really taught him to train. Bill was the 1987 ACC Champion for UVA in the 400 IM.…how he broke his wrist 8 weeks before his first World Champs Trails meet.…how Coach Don rigged up a bucket to a 10 meter diving platform at the old Marines pool.…how David Berkoff inadvertently lit a fire under his butt at the 1988 Olympic Trials.
…how Coach Don knew, after losing to Mark Tewksbury in 1992, that Jeff Rouse was prepared to go on a mental journey for the next 4 years.
…how Pablo Morales got him pumped up for the 400 Medley Relay in 1992, where he broke his own World Record leading off in 53.86. This record lasted for 7 years, 24 days. Nobody has held the 100 LCM Back World Record longer than Jeff Rouse. Ryan Murphy is 2 years, 1 month, and 6 days in…

FAVORITE QUOTE

“I like to think Jeff helped make me the coach that I am versus me being the coach that helped make Jeff. He doesn’t agree with me, but, ya know, when you have talented swimmers especially like someone like that, if you’re not completely ignorant and just give them a certain level of work, they tend to keep getting better because you don’t have to motivate them, they’re motivated to want to do it.”

100 Back LCM World Record Progression

Not surprised that Rouse, Peirsol, and Murphy all established World Records on Relays.

After listening to the interview, Coach Ross Gerry, former Associate Head Coach along side Richard Quick at Stanford from 1991-2001, wrote in with a couple of memories to share…

Great Story!I recall sitting with Skip Kenney in Menlo Park during broadcast of Jeff’s 100 Bk in Barcelona.Skip was too nervous too watch the race, and left the room! Later that day I believe, he got a call from Jeff in Barcelona asking if it was ok to train with him for 4 more years!I also recall seeing Jeff go 50m underwater from a push with zoomers on and go 21.8 at Air Force Academy the fall of “91.Good Memories!Cheers,Ross Gerry

]]>https://swimpractice.com/the-swimnerd-show/don-regenbogen/feed/0The Swimnerd Show: A Podcasthttps://swimpractice.com/the-swimnerd-show/the-swimnerd-show-a-podcast/
https://swimpractice.com/the-swimnerd-show/the-swimnerd-show-a-podcast/#respondWed, 19 Sep 2018 11:22:24 +0000http://swimpractice.com/?p=2042One thing that we have harped upon over the last 6 years is the lack of swimming history being presented to the youth of the sport. Ask your swimmers tomorrow who Jeff Rouse is. Let us know the answers you get on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram tomorrow. To promote the history of the sport of […]

]]>One thing that we have harped upon over the last 6 years is the lack of swimming history being presented to the youth of the sport. Ask your swimmers tomorrow who Jeff Rouse is. Let us know the answers you get on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagramtomorrow.

To promote the history of the sport of swimming, we are interviewing and cataloging the stories of our sports past.

Straight from the horse’s mouth.

And since we are from VIRGINIA SWIMMING, we thought it would only be right to have Jeff Rouse be our first, “history project”.

Not only are we going to interview Jeff Rouse, but also his coaches, his training partners, perhaps even an arch nemesis. Maybe the last man to beat an American in the 100 Backstroke at the Olympics. We don’t know yet (but if you have Mark’s phone number or email please send it to me nate@swimnerd.com thanks!)

Leading off our first podcast will be with Coach Don Regenbogen, Jeff’s age group coach when the Quantico Devil Dolphins (QDD) were still around. The insight, tidbits, and stories he tells are fantastic.

100 Free Women

Simone Manuel is the greatest 100 Freestyle competitor of our lifetime. Olympic Champion. World Champion. NCAA Champion. She is one of the few swimmers in the world staring down 51. Probably not here but possibly in Japan.

Mallory Comerford is the clear #2 favorite as the only other woman that has ever been under 53 before. Two excellent relay pillars for Team USA.

The fight for 3rd, 4th, 5th, and 6th should be epic, per usual.

Margo Geer is a veteran. She’s been training with Indiana for the last year. Since then she’s gone best times in both the 50 and 100 LCM Free. This event is her #1 main focus. She’s a pro.

Speaking of professional swimmers, Lia Neal continues the grind. She’s actually one of the few Americans that jumped on the World Cup circuit this past fall, which I think is great for deliberate practice, even though it is SCM. She continues to improve little by little — she went her best time at this meet last summer and was .4 tenths off just last month. She should be all over it again.

Is Abbey Weitzeil going to make a return to form? Is she the last person to beat Simone Manuel head-to-head in the 100 Free? At the 2016 Olympic Trials Weitzeil won both the 50 (24.2) and the 100 (53.2).

Everyone is talking about Erika Brown from Tennessee but don’t forget Caroline Baldwin who has been training with Dave Marsh after a successful career at UNC. We will also be keeping track of 15 year old sprint phenom Gretchen Walsh from Nashville Aquatic Club. She’s seeded with a 55.5 but can flat start a sub 22 50 SCY Free. So, we like her speed.

Having Katie Ledecky as your #4, #5, or #6 swimmer is great value.

100 Free Men

Will two swimmers not named Nathan Adrian come away as America’s 100 Free hopefuls? Possibly but most people probably still see Caeleb Dressel and Nathan Adrian as the clear cut favorites to go 1-2.

Captain Consistent has basically been able to go between 47.5 and 48.5 dozens of times for over a decade. It truly is remarkable. Not to mention he is a fabulous relay swimmer, leader, and all around nice guy.

Even better than the women’s side of things, we have hefty depth. Zach Apple was already moving up the food chain before he transferred to Indiana. Now he’s been learning from some of the hottest minds in swimming and training with people like Blake Pieroni. Switching coaches, getting a fresh perspective, and getting your ass kicked by elite competition every day in practice might be just the thing he needs to upend Capt. Consistent.

Townley Haas continues to step up every time the bars goes a little higher. Just ask Blake Pieroni. He will never have elite sprint speed but he can bring it back with the best of them. Townley’s Texas teammate, Tate Jackson, has consistently been popping 49.6/49.7 throughout the long course season.

NC State set the NCAA 4×100 Free Relay record this spring. Ryan Held, Justin Ress, and Jacob Molacek were all on it. Ress has really been on fire — as long as he doesn’t stay up all night playing Fortnite he should be good to go.

This is Michael Andrew’s first event at arguably the biggest meet of his still very young career. He’s been under 22 in the 50 LCM Free a whopping 11 times this year (can you say deliberate practice?). Controlling his speed over 100 meters is still a work in progress, though. He barely broke :50 seconds for the first time last year. Nevertheless, this event is still a work in progress — a goal for Tokyo 2020. We should still see great improvement out of him here in Prelims. Haters will hate because he doesn’t make the Top 8 but that’s okay, he’s got a big meet in front of him.

]]>https://swimpractice.com/world-champ-trials-2018/world-champ-trials-100-free/feed/0World Champ Trials: 200 Butterflyhttps://swimpractice.com/world-champ-trials-2018/world-champ-trials-200-butterfly/
https://swimpractice.com/world-champ-trials-2018/world-champ-trials-200-butterfly/#respondTue, 24 Jul 2018 13:39:16 +0000http://swimpractice.com/?p=1933World Champ Trials Day 1 – Wednesday, July 25, 2018 200 Butterfly Women This is an event that we have continued to under perform in as the most dominant swimming country ever. We’ve got only 7 girls seeded under 2:10. At Olympic Trials in 2000, we had 2 break 2:10 — Kaitlin Sandeno as a […]

200 Butterfly Women

This is an event that we have continued to under perform in as the most dominant swimming country ever. We’ve got only 7 girls seeded under 2:10. At Olympic Trials in 2000, we had 2 break 2:10 — Kaitlin Sandeno as a 17 year old and Misty Hyman aka Madame Butterfly Killer. Compare that to what has happened on the Men’s side of things and it’s completely opposite.

Poor timing for one of the greatest SCY swimmers ever: Stanford’s Ella Eastin. She has been diagnosed with mono and anyone that has ever had it themselves knows how life draining it can be. Hopefully it put her into a taper coma for 3 weeks and she’s completely 100% rested. #fingerscrossed

Hali Flickinger, former Georgia Bulldog, is the woman to beat. She is seeded first and has been on top in the USA for some time now in this event. A couple weeks ago she went 2:07 high but her best time is still from from the Rio Olympics (2:06.6).

We are looking forward to seeing Katie Drabot in this event, another Stanford superstar who had an awesome NCAA season. Keep your eyes peeled for her Cal nemesis, Katie McLaughlin, as she is a year removed from her neck injury and has also been swimming excellent. Dakota Luther has an Olympic bloodline and an Olympic coach, though it seems she doesn’t have an official team. That won’t matter, though.

Olivia Bray, a University of Tennessee commit from Virginia Gators, should be ready to race. And, of course, if Regan Smith is really going to attack this event, she will be in the mix. Charlotte Hook from TAC Titans is a mere 14 years old but has a chance to grab a second swim and some high quality experience on a stage like this. She is well rounded swimmer and is better at long course. It’ll be interesting to see what her best events become over time. Her 200 IM should be disgusting.

200 Butterfly Men

Boy oh boy do we love this event. Men’s side is jam packed. We got 24 dudes under 2:00. At Olympic Trials in 2000, we had 5 under 2:00. There are 10 teenagers at this meet under 2:00.

Jack Conger has really put his head down this past year. We’ve seen him show up to some Pro Swim Series meets with a decent looking beard and perform beautifully. This year he’s already been best times in the 50 and 100 Fly (23.3/51.0). Not to mention the 1:46.9 he put together in the 200 Free. Jack Conger is an important relay component for Team USA and should find himself with more than a hand full of swims.

Pace Clark trains with two of the world’s best: Chase Kalisz and Hali Flickinger. The little side breather doesn’t have 51.0 speed but he’s got tons of guts and will be out near his best 100 time. Chase will obviously also be in this race. Last time, however, Clark out touched him.

I think this could be a good first event for Jack LeVant, the youngster from North Texas. Sam Pomajevich had an incredible season under Eddie Reese and he is built to be a LCM swimmer. Plus, he’s from Virginia. Nicolas Albiero is coming off a premier ROY season for Louisville. Beefy T Shields is looking pretty skinny as he has steered his focus away from the 100, towards the 200. Lastly, look for Jack Saunderson to pop off a best time and get into Finals. He’s been on a roll and I don’t expect it to stop now.

Strong morning swims are going to be key on the Men’s side. It’s too competitive to risk getting 9th or 10th in the morning.

]]>https://swimpractice.com/world-champ-trials-2018/world-champ-trials-200-butterfly/feed/0Mental Side of Swimming: Performing Under Pressurehttps://swimpractice.com/swimming-psychology/mental-side-of-swimming/
https://swimpractice.com/swimming-psychology/mental-side-of-swimming/#respondThu, 19 Jul 2018 13:49:56 +0000http://swimpractice.com/?p=1921Stephen Dubner and Freakonomics Radio recently released a podcast entitled, “Why We Choke Under Pressure (and How Not To)“. It is excellent and I encourage all coaches and athletes to give it a listen. You’ll be able to relate and find value in listening as you think about the mental side of swimming. In the […]

]]>Stephen Dubner and Freakonomics Radio recently released a podcast entitled, “Why We Choke Under Pressure (and How Not To)“. It is excellent and I encourage all coaches and athletes to give it a listen. You’ll be able to relate and find value in listening as you think about the mental side of swimming.

You’ll also hear from Sian Beilock who is (straight from her Twitter bio), the “President of Barnard College and a cognitive scientist who studies why people choke under pressure and how to fix it.” She formerly headed up the Human Performance Lab at the University of Chicago.

“I define choking as worse performance than you’d expect from an individual, given that there is high pressure or stakes associated with the situation.” – Sian Beilock

I found myself thinking of Chase Kalisz in the middle of the podcast. He, according to Adrienne Edwards on Twitter, has stepped on the blocks to race the 400 IM in competition this many times:

LCM: 95
SCY: 61
SCM: 4

This is about as deliberate as it gets. Chase is a killer behind the blocks. He always shows up to work in his best suit and he is there to win.

Don’t know how far back the database goes.. but does someone want to figure out how many 400IMs I have done? plz (prelims, semis, finals)